Above is the subject debate. I don’t have cable. Therefore, I generally watch the show later on the Internet. For the most part, this was a good debate. I just had two significant disappointments.

Some of the candidates dodged questions. Generally, they did so by answering the question they wished the moderator had asked.

Some of the candidates attacked other candidates with misleading nonsense.

Since I don’t have the time, I not going to try to go over the entire debate. I think it enough to watch the debate and fact check charges some of the candidates made, Senator Marco Rubio’s charges in particular. Some of his charges are true, and some of them just ain’t so.

The one exchange I would like to comment upon involved Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz. To continue the spat between Trump and Cruz, the Fox News moderator (1 hour, 4 minutes into the debate) asked Cruz a question about New York values. With some amusement, Cruz answered the question. Trump’s response was a bit over the top. This link shows why => Trump in 1999: ‘I am Very Pro-Choice’.

Note that I am a supporter of Senator Ted Cruz. However, Donald Trump has surprised me. Overall, I think that overall Donald Trump has been a valuable addition to the presidential race, and I suspect he is now more Conservative than he was in 1999. I just wish he would fess up and admit his one-time Liberal leanings and counter-punch a bit more carefully. Emotional counter-attacks and questioning Cruz’s right to right for president is sort of nonsense Liberal Democrats do. When he does such things, he just undermines his credibility. Then we have to wonder: “why is he running as a Republican?”

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It is a great question. Why is Donald Trump running as a Republican. He is clearly not a constitutional conservative. Probably a great populist and perhaps a progressive. I agree he has added a lot to 2016 election.

I am still mulling over Donald Trump and Cruz exchanges. I lean toward both of them because they both are addressing the issues candidly without seemingly being beholden to special interests.

What I am concerned about the GOP debates is the beating of war drums of more US involvement in the Mid East. I am praying the politicians find some other solution than expanding US involvement again over conflicts that have been issues of conflicts for thousands of years. I do not know the answer, but I do know this,, What we have done in the past century has not solved much of the underlying problems of the Mid East.

The GOP keeps saying the US should lead. There is an old saying about leading a horse to water but you cannot make the horse drink. In my opinion, they Mid East doe not want to drink our American values, culture, religious faith, or political system.

I don’t think any of us have a good answer for the Middle East. We have enough trouble controlling our own behavior. In fact, none of us succeed at that as much as we might wish.

None of the candidates has advocated being the world’s policeman. What they have advocated is getting rid of ISIS and stopping immigration from countries where terrorists are active.

I don’t see how we can avoid doing something about ISIS. Although I doubt the wisdom of putting large numbers of troops on the ground, ISIS has to be stopped. However, Iran represents the same kind of threat, and getting between them does not strike me as a great idea.

We need to reduce immigration anyway. Thus, I see stopping immigration from nations where terrorists are active is part of a larger problem. We have too many people who need time to learn what it means to be an American. It is bad idea for any nation to have a large population that does not feel that nation is its home.

“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.” Ronald Reagan.